Employee opens fire at work, killing seven

Published: Wednesday, December 27, 2000

WAKEFIELD, Mass. {AP} A heavily armed employee opened fire in the offices of a computer consulting company Tuesday, killing seven people before being wrestled to the ground by police, authorities said.

The gunman, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, was sitting in the lobby of the building when police found him and had to subdue him, prosecutors said.

Michael McDermott, 42, was to be arraigned on seven charges of murder, said John McEvoy, a Middlesex County prosecutor.

McDermott, an employee of Edgewater Technologies since March, came to work as usual Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Around 11 a.m., however, he walked systematically through the office building and fatally shot seven people, McEvoy said. McEvoy declined to discuss a motive other than to say it was "work-related."

There were no other gunmen and no one else was injured, the prosecutor said.

The shooting took place in the offices of the Internet consulting company, which has its headquarters in Wakefield and offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota and New Hampshire.

Frank Harrington, a contract consultant for the company, said he was in the building when he heard eight to 10 shots.

Nancy Pecjo, a developer with the company, said 30 to 40 employees worked at the Wakefield office. She did not know who had been shot.

"It's a great company, a wonderful company," she said, adding that she didn't know of anyone who'd been fired recently or was disgruntled.

"It's a small company, you get to know everybody there," she said. "When something like this happens it's very distressing."

The shootings took place in the Harvard Mills office complex, a three-story, red brick former factory that houses several companies.